The NBA Summer League is not known for its elite level of basketball, and the championship game was no exception. Luckily, a game doesn’t have to be high-quality to be entertaining, and the Bulls and Timberwolves put on a show that was more fun than almost every NBA Playoff game last season.
After the Cavaliers ended the city of Cleveland’s 50-plus year drought without a championship in the four major American team sports, people began discussing which city will now take over the throne of the longest suffering in the country. One of the first mentioned is the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, home to the Vikings, Wild, Twins, and Timberwolves. The Twins conquered the World Series in 1991, but that was 25 years ago, and none of the other franchises have ever won their respective championships.
It’s been a long struggle for the state of Minnesota, but their best opportunity to end the drought finally presented itself last night, as they were one game away from winning the NBA Summer League title.
The argument that an NBA Summer League title isn’t the same as, say, an NBA Finals or Super Bowl or World Series or Stanley Cup, is fair, but it is an argument I am not interested in listening to. A win in the championship game of Summer League would result in a trophy, a physical piece of championship hardware, something Minnesota hasn’t touched in 25 years. So yes, it’s a big deal.
And the narrative leading up to the game couldn’t be more beautiful. The Minnesota Timberwolves finished the “regular season” of Summer League without a win, and were seeded dead last (24th) for the playoffs.
The Chicago Bulls, on the other hand, finished the regular season without a loss, and were the second seed in the playoffs.
Minnesota was naturally an afterthought in the 2016 NBA Summer League Playoff Previews (I’m sure at least someone put one out there), but they had no interest in outsiders’ expectations. The Timberwolves toppled the ninth seed, the eighth seed, the first seed, and the fifth seed en route to reaching the final against Chicago. Tyus Jones, the diminutive point guard who failed to make an impact last season, was the hero of Summer League for Minnesota, averaging 19.4 points, 6.3 assists, and 4.0 rebounds to will his team to the championship game.
The small market, huge underdog, led by a scrappy, undersized guard: Minnesota – against the major market, talented and successful, Chicago. The stage was set, and plenty of people couldn’t wait to see how this one played out.
It was a game of runs that kept fans on edge throughout the whole game, as both teams took advantages only to see the other creep back into the contest. The Bulls opened the game as the better team, led by the strong play of Jerian Grant and Bobby Portis, who combined for 16 of Chicago’s 18 first quarter points. Meanwhile, the poor-shooting Timberwolves only put up 13 in the first quarter.
The second quarter was all Minnesota, or more precisely all Adreian Payne. Payne, who somehow looks like an older version of Charlie Villanueva, got hot from deep in the second, scoring 13 of the Wolves’ 29 point in the period and hitting three of the five three-pointers that propelled Minnesota to a 42-32 lead at the half.
But the game was far from over, as Minnesota came out flat in the third and the Bulls fought their way back into the game, managing to pull ahead by one, 59-58, as the buzzer for the end of the quarter sounded.
Neither team could get any breathing room in the fourth, and with 21 seconds left, the game was tied 74-74.
It was Tyus Jones time. Jones already had 22 points in the game at this point, and there was no question who’d be taking the last shot for Minnesota. He received the ball at the top of the key, and proceeded to dribble down the clock. A teammate set a screen, but both defenders elected to stay with Jones, obviously the right call as he showed no intention of passing. With two defenders on him and only seconds left on the clock, Tyus Jones heaved a shot from a few feet back of the three point line. Swish. He did it. The Summer League MVP had just nailed a massively difficult shot that would likely bring a championship back to Minnesota.
The only problem was there was still 3.6 seconds left on the clock. The Bulls had their chance now. The inbounds pass went across the court to Cristiano Felicio, and Chicago’s first round pick Denzel Valentine, who had been invisible the rest of the game, got open off a screen, caught the pass, and calmly sank a three pointer to send the game into overtime.
Already high in drama, the game would only go farther in OT. Jerian Grant hit a layup and three pointer that gave Chicago a five-point lead with under a minute to go, seemingly putting the Bulls in control of the game. But Tyus Jones finished a strong layup, and then Spencer Dinwiddie missed a pair of free throws to give Minnesota a chance to tie it up. The possession ended in a desperate heave from downtown by Xavier Silas, which miraculously banked in to once again tie the game.
A sudden-death double overtime would have been great TV, but again the Timberwolves gave the Bulls and Denzel Valentine too much time to work with for the final shot. The ball was in Valentine’s hands for the last shot. He picked up his dribble in the middle of the court, worked his pivot foot, and released a jump shot as he spun past Silas, the ball dropping through the hoop as the final buzzer went off, sealing the championship for the Bulls.
Euphoria for Chicago. Devastation for Minnesota. You’d think I’m exaggerating when I describe their emotions, and that could be true, but it easily could not be true, as the intensity and drama of the game clearly upped the importance of it to all of the players.
I haven’t watched too many NBA Summer League Championship games, but I feel confident in saying this one was, in fact, the Summer League Championship of the Century.
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